A tremor of a magnitude of 3,6 on the Richter scale was recorded in the East Rand, 8km north-west of Germiston, on Tuesday at 11.13am, said Ian Saunders, project leader for the South African National Seismograph Network at the Council for Geoscience in Pretoria.
”It measured 3,6 in magnitude around the East Rand gold-mining area,” Saunders said. It measured 2km in depth when it started at 11.13am.
”It’s definitely not serious, but it’s a large event for that area,” he said.
The tremor was felt in many parts of Johannesburg.
Saunders could not say what the cause of the seismic event was.
DRDGold spokesperson Ilja Graulich said: ”We haven’t got any reports yet of any incidents on our mines.”
Willie Jacobsz, of Gold Fields, said the tremor had not affected any of the company’s West Rand operations.
A tremor killed two miners and injured 20 others at DRDGold’s North West operations in March last year.
Nineteen Gold Fields miners were injured, three seriously, in rockfalls at Carletonville’s East Driefontein mine in May last year following seismic activity measuring about 3,5 on the Richter scale. — I-Net Bridge, Sapa